Thin film transistors (TFTs) are widely used as a switching element in electronics, for example, in active-matrix liquid-crystal displays, smart cards, and a variety of other electronic devices and components thereof. The thin film transistor (TFT) is an example of a field effect transistor (FET). The best-known example of an FET is the MOSFET (Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor-FET), today's conventional switching element for high-speed applications. Presently, most thin film devices are made using amorphous silicon as the semiconductor. Amorphous silicon is a less expensive alternative to crystalline silicon. This fact is especially important for reducing the cost of transistors in large-area applications. Application of amorphous silicon is limited to low speed devices, however, since its maximum mobility (0.5-1.0 cm2/V sec) is about a thousand times smaller than that of crystalline silicon.
Although amorphous silicon is less expensive than highly crystalline silicon for use in TFTs, amorphous silicon still has its drawbacks. The deposition of amorphous silicon, during the manufacture of transistors, requires relatively costly processes, such as plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition and high temperatures (about 360° C.) to achieve the electrical characteristics sufficient for display applications. Such high processing temperatures disallow the use, for deposition, of substrates made of certain plastics that otherwise might be desirable for flexible displays.
In the past decade, organic materials have received attention as a potential alternative to inorganic materials such as amorphous silicon for use in semiconductor channels of TFTs. Organic semiconductor materials are simpler to process, especially those that are soluble in organic solvents and, therefore, capable of being applied to large areas by far less expensive processes, such as spin-coating, dip-coating, ink jet printing, and microcontact printing. Furthermore, organic materials may be deposited at lower temperatures, opening up a wider range of substrate materials, including plastics, for flexible electronic devices. Accordingly, thin film transistors made of organic materials can be viewed as a potential key technology for plastic circuitry in display drivers, portable computers, pagers, memory elements in transaction cards, and identification tags, where ease of fabrication or mechanical flexibility are important considerations.
Organic materials for use as potential semiconductor channels in TFTs are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,144 to Garnier et al., entitled “Thin-Layer Field-Effect Transistors with MIS Structure Whose Insulator and Semiconductors Are Made of Organic Materials.”
Organic semiconductor materials that can be used in TFTs to provide the switching and/or logic elements in electronic components typically require significant mobilities, well above 0.01 cm2/Vs, and current on/off ratios (hereinafter referred to as “on/off ratios”) greater than 1000. Organic TFTs having such properties are capable of use for electronic applications such as pixel drivers for displays and identification tags. However, most of the compounds exhibiting these desirable properties are “p-type” or “p-channel,” meaning that negative gate voltages, relative to the source voltage, are applied to induce positive charges (holes) in the channel region of the device. N-type organic semiconductor materials can be used in TFTs as an alternative to p-type organic semiconductor materials, where the terminology “n-type” or “n-channel” indicates that positive gate voltages, relative to the source voltage, are applied to induce negative charges in the channel region of the device.
Moreover, one important type of TFT circuit, known as a complementary circuit, requires an n-type semiconductor material in addition to a p-type semiconductor material. See Dodabalapur et al. in “Complementary circuits with organic transistors” Appl. Phys. Lett. 1996, 69, 4227. In particular, the fabrication of complementary circuits requires at least one p-channel TFT and at least one n-channel TFT. Simple components such as inverters have been realized using complementary circuit architecture. Advantages of complementary circuits, relative to ordinary TFT circuits, include lower power dissipation, longer lifetime, and better tolerance of noise. In such complementary circuits, it is often desirable to have the mobility and the on/off ratio of an n-channel device to be similar in magnitude to the mobility and the on/off ratio of a p-channel device. Hybrid complementary circuits using an organic p-type semiconductor and an inorganic n-type semiconductor are known, as described in Dodabalapur et al. (Appl. Phys. Lett. 1996, 68, 2264.), but for ease of fabrication, an organic n-channel semiconductor material would be desired in such circuits.
Only a limited number of organic materials have been developed for use as a semiconductor n-channel in TFTs. One such material buckminsterfullerene C60 exhibits a mobility of 0.08 cm2/Vs but is considered to be unstable in air. See R. C. Haddon, A. S. Perel, R. C. Morris, T. T. M. Palstra, A. F. Hebard and R. M. Fleming, “C60 Thin Film Transistors” Appl. Phys. Let. 1995, 67, 121. Perfluorinated copper phthalocyanine has a mobility of 0.03 cm2/Vs, and is generally stable to air operation, but substrates must be heated to temperatures above 100° C. in order to maximize the mobility in this material. See “New Air-Stable n-Channel Organic Thin Film Transistors” Z. Bao, A. J. Lovinger, and J. Brown J. Am. Chem., Soc. 1998, 120, 207. Other n-channel semiconductors, including some based on a naphthalene framework, have also been reported, but with lower mobilities. See Laquindanum et al., “n-Channel Organic Transistor Materials Based on Naphthalene Frameworks,” J. Am. Chem., Soc. 1996, 118, 11331. One such naphthalene-based n-channel semiconductor material, tetracyanonaphthoquino-dimethane (TCNNQD), is capable of operation in air, but the material has displayed a low on/off ratio and is also difficult to prepare and purify.
Aromatic tetracarboxylic diimides, based on a naphthalene aromatic framework, have also been demonstrated to provide, as an n-type semiconductor, n-channel mobilities greater than 0.1 cm2/Vs using top-contact configured devices where the source and drain electrodes are on top of the semiconductor. Comparable results could be obtained with bottom contact devices, that is, where the source and drain electrodes are underneath the semiconductor, but a thiol underlayer needed to be applied between the electrodes, which had to be gold, and the semiconductor. See Katz et al. “Naphthalenetetracarboxylic Diimide-Based n-Channel Transistor Semiconductors: Structural Variation and Thiol-Enhanced Gold Contacts” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000 122, 7787; “A Soluble and Air-stable Organic Semiconductor with High Electron Mobility” Nature 2000 404, 478; Katz et al., European Patent Application EP1041653 or U.S. Pat. No. 6,387,727. In the absence of the thiol underlayer, the mobility was found to be orders of magnitude lower in bottom-contact devices. Relatively higher mobilities have been measured in films of perylene tetracarboxylic diimides having linear alkyl side chains using pulse-radiolysis time-resolved microwave conductivity measurements. See Struijk et al. “Liquid Crystalline Peryllene Diimides: Architecture and Charge Carrier Mobilities” J. Am. Chem. Soc. Vol 2000, 122, 11057. However, initial devices based on materials having a perylene framework used as the organic semiconductor led to devices with low mobilities, for example 10−5 cm2/Vs for perylene tetracarboxylic dianhydride (PTCDA) and 1.5×10−5 cm2/Vs for NN′-diphenyl perylene tetracarboxylic acid diimide (PTCDI-Ph. See Horowitz et al. in “Evidence for n-Type Conduction in a Perylene Tetracarboxylic Diimide Derivative” Adv. Mater. 1996, 8, 242 and Ostrick, et al. J Appl. Phys. 1997, 81, 6804.
US Patent Pub. No. 2002/0164835 A1 to Dimitrakopoulos et al. discloses improved n-channel semiconductor films made of perylene tetracarboxylic acid diimide compounds, one example of which is N,N′-di(n-1H,1H-perfluorooctyl) perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid diimide. Substituents attached to the imide nitrogens in the diimide structure comprise alkyl chains, electron deficient alkyl groups, electron deficient benzyl groups, the chains preferably having a length of four to eighteen atoms. U.S. Pat. No. 6,387,727 B1 to Katz et al. discloses fused-ring tetracarboxylic diimide compounds, one example of which is N,N′-bis(4-trifulormethyl benzyl)naphthalene-1, 4, 5, 8,-tetracarboxylic acid diimide. Such compounds are pigments that are easier to reduce.
There is a need in the art for new and improved organic semiconductor materials for transistor materials and improved technology for their manufacture and use. There is especially a need for n-type semiconductor materials exhibiting significant mobilities and current on/off ratios in organic thin film transistor devices.